Trainer Brad Cox is hopeful Admiral Dennis will get the right kind of setup in the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel Stakes on Sunday at Oaklawn Park. The son of Constitution won an allowance last out at Fair Grounds and will be returning to stakes competition after finishing fourth in the Gun Runner in December.
Led by Cyclone State, the winner of the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 4, Saturday’s Group 3, $1.5 million Saudi Derby at a mile in Saudi Arabia has three nominees to the American Triple Crown in its field of 10.
Cyclone State, trained by Chad Summers for the partnership of Gold Square LLC, George Messina, and Michael Lee, was the 3-1 favorite with British bookmakers as of Wednesday morning.
Remember when many Las Vegas sportsbooks offered winter-book wagering on the Kentucky Derby? The list is down to one, as Ceasars is the last Las Vegas sportsbook to offer fixed-odds future wagers on the Kentucky Derby.
Though few 3-year-olds transition successfully from maiden victory to Grade 1, few have as much natural ability and pedigree power as Baeza. The well-bred colt’s dominating maiden route victory Feb. 14 at Santa Anita stamps him as a legitimate contender in the Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
WHO’S HOT
Magnitude was hot, then not. Magnitude crushed the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds by nearly 10 lengths and would have been favored this week on the Daily Racing Form Derby Watch Top 20. But days after his romping victory, Magnitude was off the trail. Trainer Steve Asmussen told DRF reporter Marcus Hersh the colt was to undergo surgery for a bone chip in his left ankle.
Sandman
Colt by Tapit – Distorted Music, by Distorted Humor
Bred in Kentucky by Lothenbach Stables ($1.2 million Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March 2-year-olds in training purchase by West Point Thorougbreds, D. J. Stable, CJ Stables)
Sunday’s Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park matches the winners of the track’s first two Derby prep races – Coal Battle, who took the Smarty Jones, and Speed King, front-running winner of the Grade 3 Southwest. But Sandman also has had a strong winter at Oaklawn.
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The much-anticipated rematch between Burnham Square and Tappan Street, the first- and second-place finishers, respectively, in the Grade 3 Holy Bull here earlier this month, will not take place as many had hoped a week from Saturday in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
Straight No Chaser, the champion sprinter of 2024, worked a half-mile in 48.40 seconds in Saudi Arabia on Monday in advance of Saturday’s Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in that country, trainer Dan Blacker wrote in a text message.
Blacker described Straight No Chaser’s exercise as “in hand.”
The $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint at six furlongs will be Straight No Chaser’s first start since a title-clinching win in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 2
ARCADIA, Calif. – Journalism, unbeaten in two starts around two turns, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 at Santa Anita on Sunday in advance of his scheduled 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 1.
The $300,000 San Felipe Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles and is a key prep race for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles on April 5.
Journalism is rated as one of the leading 3-year-old Triple Crown prospects in California.
